Originally Posted by instructor37  I must admit I have been using your posts as a bit of a gloat over some of my colleagues. When we were researching machines for our school, one guy wanted to spend all the money on a single large machine. That was pretty much over ruled as we needed more machines available for hands on time. Smaller seperates were ruled out because it required double the number of CNC and DRO options to buy. We finally settled on 3 in 1 machines as the choice. Most of the guys were in favor of the Smithy , mostly because they do a lot of advertising and have a pretty slick brochure. However, I came across the Shopmaster while doing a google search of 3 in 1 machines. It was obvious right away that the Shopmaster had addressed all the issues you mention with their mill head design. Once we compared the specs and features, it was clear to all that the Shopmaster was the best designed 3 in 1.
The tough part was convincing the bean counters to pay in advance. Shopmasters are usually sold out about 60 days in advance and they require full payment up front. I finally convinced them that a company that requires payment 60 days in advance and has been around for 30 years must have a reasonable product. Final decision was for the Shopmaster, and we have been satisfied with the performance. |
From the specs, it looks like the Granite is a similar design to my old 1993 Shoptask. It definitely takes some patience and planning to get any milling out of those type machines. my new Patriot is a whole generation different and 100 times better as a mill.